"Make
sure you spell my name as Imuda, not Ipmuda...I am not yet a public-listed company,
only a public figure!" he grinned engagingly. Ipmuda, oops, Imuda is 37 but
hardly looks more than 30. In real life, he is quiet, reserved even and certainly
did not dance on our table. "I don't do crazy things in real life," he
hastened to add. "Some people think I behave and act like the comic characters
I portray on television or in movies but I am not like that at all. I am rather low-key.
Even my own wife comments it is unusual I am so unlike the colourful, zany, off-beat
characters I am always associated with."

In T-shirt
and jeans, the bespectacled Imuda could easily pass as another man in the street.
The only give-away is his familiar, carefree swagger. "Waa, fashion-kau,"
he remarked, staring in amusement at my newly-acquired woollen tie bought in Paris.

Born in
Bukit Mertajam, Imuda stayed there until Form 5 when he moved to Penang some 8 kilometres
away. "All my life I wanted to be an artist. I could always draw quite well,
even as a child. In Standard Six, I could already draw cartoons. I drew cartoon strips
like those I saw in comic books for my own private amusement. My friends were already
my peminat (fans) and sometimes I would do a short series of cartoon figures
and depict their adventures."
As early as four years of age, he was already fascinated
by cinema posters. He was always pestering his parents to take him to the movies
but then ended up paying more attention to the posters in the lobby than in the film!
His mind was made up from young. "All I wanted to do was to draw, so in Penang
I worked for United Books Company, quite a well-known firm. I was an illustrator
doing illustrations in children's magazines such as 'Dunia Murid-Murid' as
well as a proof-reader. I stayed on for 2 years until 1973 when I left to work in
a sugar factory in Prai as a labourer."

I pointed
out such physically taxing manual labour would not have been too conducive to his
artistic aspirations. "It was for the money! As illustrator I was paid only
RM110 a month -- how to survive? As a labourer I was paid RM15 a day, so much higher
but kerja teruk (tough work)."

Just as
one cannot survive on fresh air and love alone, one also cannot resist one true's
vocation. The urge to put pen to drawing paper proved irresistible. In 1978 he applied
and got a job as assistant artist with Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka in Kuala Lumpur.
"My job was only that of Assistant Artist, not even that of Artist!" he
chuckled. "I was promoted to Artist only in 1980!"

Imuda's
foray into acting happened at his workplace. Dewan Bahasa dan Pustaka had a theatre
group as part of their recreational facilities so Imuda enrolled for acting classes.
"That was the beginning of my acting. I didn't plan for an acting career. I
acted for fun, mainly following my friends, as I was busy illustrating children's
books, drawing cartoons and doing pictures for educational books."

His initial
attempts certainly pre-empted any glamorous notions of being a star feted with confetti.
"All I did was cuci lantai (scrub floors) or help move the furniture
on the set! I was involved behind the scenes and thought that was the beginning and
end of my 'acting' career -- until I was chosen to act in a play called Mayat
(Corpse)".

Even then
it was just about the most inauspicious start possible -- he was asked to be a corspe!
"It seems comical today but back then, I was not at all amused! I refused point-blank
as I wanted some dialogue and argued there wasn't much hope in that as corpse! So
I finally found got a small speaking part. I almost regretted it as I found it difficult
to act and remember my lines. Rehearsals took a whole month. I played the role of
Sahabat Tiga (Three Friends).

"I
trembled the first time I went on stage before an audience. I was so nervous I forgot
my lines once or twice and my clothes were soaked in perspiration! The director scolded
me soundly and told me to improve for the second night. I didn't sleep that night,
I tell you, rehearsing and memorising my lines in my bedroom. The second night I
remembered all my lines and on the third and last night, everyone remarked how well
I acted! Mayat was quite well-received and we even went on to perform in Sabah
and Sarawak, which was a big deal for me."

In the
early 80s, Drama Minggu Ini (This Week's Drama) was the most watched local
series and Imuda got his first break here. "RTM asked me to appear in Bahtera
(Ship). No, I wasn't asked to be the ship as it was not surreal play! I was only
an extra, paid RM50, but I was happy, more so when they asked me to act in more dramas
based on my initial performance. My roles got bigger and so did my pay -- RM100.
I couldn't believe my luck when I was paid RM600 for my part in the movie Mekanik
and that was for just 4 days of shooting! And in colour too! Drama Minggu Ini
was black and white!"

In late
1983 he got an even bigger break that was to take him to stellar heights. He was
offered the fateful role of 'Budin' in Syy which was conceptualised by Hatta
Khan. 'Syy' was the forerunner of 'Pimai-pimai Tang Tu' which has been
running these last 14 years with Imuda permanently entrenched as Budin. "I was
Budin from day one, from the time Syy was performed at the old Dewan Banadaraya
which was later burned down, to the time when it became a TV series. Pimai-pimai
Tang Tu means 'going here, there, everywhere, yet nothing gets done'! It is about
the inhabitants of a squatter house battling DBKL which wants to turn their area
into a rubbish dump. The irony is that there village is called Sri Wangi --
Fragrant Village!"
Hafsham, the director came to see Syy and
thought it would make a good sitcom. So he proposed the idea and offered to take
in the entire cast as it were! It was the first for TV in 1984 and was slotted in
RTM's Drama Swasta (Private Sector Drama). In less than a year, it went to
TV3 as 'Kampung Sri Wangi' before transmutting into 'Pimai-pimai Tang Tu'.